October 25, 2012

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UBC’S OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER | OCTOBER 25, 2012 | VOLUME XCIV| ISSUE XVI

SO LONG,

STACKS

Shut-down shelves, online options and a multi-story book retrieving robot are all part of the new reality for UBC’s libraries P6

U

THE UBYSSEY

≠ LITTLE BIT SCARY IN TERMS OF ‘A

INVITING

HARASSMENT’

UBC investigates involvement of varsity athletes in an anonymous Twitter account and website that solicited non-consensual photos of women on campus P11 Dime Watch @UBCDimeWatch

Dime Watch @UBCDimeWatch

Want to be featured on thedimewatch.com Send us a pic, reason why and a quirky fact and we’ll put u in the piggy bank #dimewatch

Welcome back BBQ is just heating up. Seen a few birds with asses like onions, makes you wanna cry

GOING FOR SIX Can the UBC women’s volleyball team add another national title to its CV? P5

23 Oct 12

Dime Watch

7 Sep 12

@UBCDimeWatch

Dime Watch @UBCDimeWatch

We’re only getting started #CatchMeIfYouCan #Dimewatch thedimewatch.com

“Dimes up the yin yang in geography building.” Can somebody attest to this? #proveit #dimewatch 23 Oct 12 6 Sep 12

Dime Watch

Dime Watch @UBCDimeWatch

UBC, only a few more weeks until every move will be seen again and if you’re lucky your good looks will be broadcasted on twitter......

@UBCDimeWatch

8 Aug 12 cutters poking Nothing like a pair of diamond through a sports bra on a #dime bouncing her fun bags while running around campus #dimewatch 10 May 12

Dime Watch @UBCDimeWatch

Looking for some #DOTD nominations, don’t need no chump change as they’ll be featured on our new website thedimewatch.com #dimewatch 23 Oct 12

‘CAP IN HAND’

That’s how the presidents of B.C. universities say they’re approaching the province for money. More on their multimillion dollar request on P3


THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 |

YOUR GUIDE TO UBC EVENTS + PEOPLE

What’s on Tue 1225

OUR CAMPUS

THIS WEEK, MAY WE SUGGEST...

SPORTS >>

2

ONE ON ONE WITH THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE UBC

THURSDAY

Halloween Howl Dodgeball Tournament: 11:45 a.m. @ Student Rec Centre

Celebrate Halloween in energetic style by playing dodgeball in costume. This classic game will get you dodging, tossing, ducking and diving — with a spooky, seasonal twist. Free.

Tue 1226

Tue 1227

MUSIC >>

FRIDAY

MOVIE >>

SATURDAY

Jazz Café Club: Swingin’ Nightmare: 6 p.m. @ SUB Party Room UBC Jazz Café Club collaborates with UBC Swing Kids for a Halloween event that includes dancing lessons, baked goods and drinks.

Tue 1228

PLANTS >>

SUNDAY

Mushroom Show: 11 a.m. @ Van Dusen Botanical Garden Floral Hall Are you a fungi lover? The Vancouver Mycological Society presents an exhibit of mushrooms and other fungi for your viewing pleasure. $3. Tue 1229

Hogan Wong PHOTO/THE UBYSSEY

Piyush Sahay has been working with UBC Food Services since 2003.

The Dark Knight Rises: 9 p.m. @ Norm Theatre Did you miss out on summer’s blockbuster hit? The UBC Film Society has got you covered with their screening of The Dark Knight Rises. In this sequel, the city of Gotham is terrorized by a new villain, Bane. $2.50 for Film Society members, $5 for non-members.

CLUBS >>

MONDAY

Toastmasters Club Open House: 5:15 p.m. @ MacLeod Building, Room 418 Looking to improve your oral presentation skills? The Toastmasters Club is hosting an open house to teach you how to speak off-the-cuff, conduct meetings and deliver prepared presentations.

Got an event you’d like to see on this page? Send your event and your best pitch to printeditor@ubyssey.ca.

Video content Make sure to check out the Ubyssey Weekly Show, airing now at ubyssey. ca/videos

U THE UBYSSEY

EDITORIAL

Senior Lifestyle Writer STAFF Zafira Rajan Bryce Warnes, Josh Curran, zrajan@ubyssey.ca

Coordinating Editor Jonny Wakefield coordinating@ubyssey.ca Features Editor Natalya Kautz features@ubyssey.ca Managing Editor, Print Jeff Aschkinasi Video Editor printeditor@ubyssey.ca David Marino video@ubyssey.ca Managing Editor, Web Andrew Bates Copy Editor webeditor@ubyssey.ca Karina Palmitesta News Editors Will McDonald + Laura Rodgers news@ubyssey.ca

copy@ubyssey.ca

Senior News Writer Ming Wong mwong@ubyssey.ca

Graphics Assistant Indiana Joel ijoel@ubyssey.ca

Culture Editor Anna Zoria culture@ubyssey.ca

Layout Artist Collyn Chan cchan@ubyssey.ca

Senior Culture Writer Rhys Edwards redwards@ubyssey.ca

Videographer Soo Min Park spark@ubyssey.ca

Sports + Rec Editor CJ Pentland sports@ubyssey.ca

Webmaster Riley Tomasek webmaster@ubyssey.ca

Art Director Kai Jacobson art@ubyssey.ca

Peter Wojnar, Anthony Poon, Veronika Bondarenko, Yara De Jong, Lu Zhang, Ginny Monaco, Arno Rosenfeld, Matt Meuse, Hogan Wong, Rory Gattens, Brandon Chow, Joseph Ssettuba

OCTOBER 25, 2012 | VOLUME XCIV| ISSUE XVI BUSINESS

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Serving up success Priyanka Hariharan Contributor

In his office at the Totem Dining Hall, the jaunty Piyush Sahay sits at his desk wearing a pristine white chef hat, surrounded by various awards. Sahay, an executive chef, has worked at UBC Food Services since 2003. Responsible for the Totem and Vanier menus, organizing catering services for the UBC president’s prestigious events and taking care of retail, HR and staffing, the chef always has a full plate. “I basically take care of the general administration of the entire culinary aspect of Food Services. It’s a big department, so there is a big emphasis on teamwork. But being the head, I am responsible for anything good, and unfortunately, anything bad as well,” he explained. However, Sahay wasn’t always comfortable in the kitchen. In his college years studying physics in Mumbai, he had trouble making a simple cup of chai. As a joke, he and a friend decided to take an entrance exam for hotel school. The joke stopped when Sahay found his professional passion in the culinary field. “I love this job because every day is different and exciting. I

have catered to people like the Dalai Lama and the emperor and empress of Japan. And they don’t eat that much, so it was a creative challenge in its own way to come up with a light, well-plated, three-course meal.” But after catering stints for esteemed world leaders, Sahay now works to feed the students of Totem and Vanier cafeterias. At UBC, Sahay tries to showcase multicultural, authentic food. “After we renovated Totem, we wanted to go in a different route. Because we have students from every part of the world, why not have delicacies from every part of the world? Food available in Vanier and Totem [is] very different. But we keep it that way so that students have more variety.” He also organizes a monthly nutritionist visit to the firstyear residences to educate students on the available options in the dining room and help them maintain a healthy diet. Sahay’s efforts are paying off. In 2012, his braised bison shortribs entrée won the Catered Arts Through Innovative Excellence (CATIE) award for best main course plate presentation. “Not everything is worth an entry. The campus really restricts you in a way, because no student will be in the market for an upscale entrée costing

$75. That’s why we have waited for the opportunity and found the perfect time to enter. “Hopefully this can translate into work, too, because how many times can the president eat the same thing at his events?” he joked. Sahay’s culinary philosophy started to take shape during his time studying gastronomy in France. “Being Indian, I was always used to making food spicy and flavourful by adding abundant herbs and seasonings. But that stopped in France. When I was squeezing lemon after lemon on a fish, to make the taste more savoury and to get rid of that fishy smell, the head chef came to me and said, ‘Stop trying to change the flavour. If a fish should not taste and smell of fish, then what should it taste and smell of?’” On top of managing and delegating, Sahay tries to embed sustainability in his work; UBC Food Services provides eco-friendly containers, partners with two local fair-trade coffee companies, sources locally from the UBC Farm and uses Ocean Wise seafood. Despite his passion towards his job, Sahay said he prefers not to stir any pots at home. “Cooking at home is more tedious. It’s a profession, not a hobby.” U

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 |

EDITORS WILL MCDONALD + LAURA RODGERS

FUNDING >>

3

LABOUR >>

CUPE 116 deal promises wage hikes, job security Will McDonald News Editor

Stephanie Xu PHOTO/THE UBYSSEY

Presidents at UBC, SFU, UNBC, TRU and RRU have asked the province for millions.

Six B.C. schools seek more provincial funding Money to pay for student spaces, grants, scholarships Laura Rodgers News Editor

In a bid to influence party platforms for the upcoming provincial election, B.C.’s six largest research universities drew up a proposal asking for millions of provincial dollars. The Research Universities’ Council of B.C. is asking for $130 million over four years to create more spaces for students, $51 million each year for new grants and scholarships and “a commitment to stable funding” for industry-ready research. The council is made up of presidents from UBC, Simon Fraser University, the University of Northern B.C., Thompson Rivers University and Royal Roads University. “It’s aimed at our political leaders. We want to say to all parties in our legislature that these are the important points for us at the universities,” said George Iwama, president of UNBC. “It’s meant for our MLAs, both in government and across the floor.” Iwama continued, “Yes, there is an election coming up, and

NEWS BRIEF CUPE 2278 vote to reaffirm active strike mandate UBC’s unionized teaching assistants (TAs) took a vote yesterday on whether to start striking. Based on a vote in March, the TAs, represented by the CUPE local 2278, still have the ability to strike at any time. But because so much of their membership changes each year, union organizers opted to take a large-scale vote from members before deciding on any job action. According to CUPE 2278 communications director Trish Everett, about 10 per cent of UBC’s approximately 3,000 TAs attended an emergency meeting last Wednesday. Those who attended gave the go-ahead for the union to hold a wide-scale vote next week to determine whether they will strike. Everett said that she was still unsure what the response will be from union members in the vote.“It’s hard to predict because I only know what TAs I’ve been speaking with feel, and generally the tone at the meeting today,” she said. Director of UBC Public Affairs Lucie McNeill has said previously that if the TAs do strike, UBC may give students and staff another window to opt out of crossing picket lines. The results of the vote were not released by press time. U

everyone’s getting their stories and priorities together, and we want to make sure that they got a summary of what we think.” The document cites a projection showing that there could be 32,000 unfilled jobs in B.C. that require applicants with post-secondary education by 2020. This information is used to argue that B.C. needs 11,000 new spaces for students within the next four years. The document also calls for $36 million in non-repayable needs-based grants for undergrads, a type of student aid that hasn’t existed since 2005, when the B.C. Liberals cut a previous program. The document doesn’t give a number for how much research funding the presidents want, but it mentions the almost $1 billion in provincial money awarded to match federal research grants to universities since 1998. “Today we go, cap in hand, in a case-by case manner, and the [provincial] government considers our requests,” said Iwama. “The com-

mitment ... should be on an ongoing and sustained basis.” The current B.C. minister of advanced education, Liberal John Yap, said there isn’t enough money available to give the university presidents what they’re asking for. “All of these recommendations have merit, but first, we need to balance the budget,” said Yap. “Taxpayers already put $5 million every single day into readying people for future careers. We need to promote trades and technical opportunities, and make sure we have the right mix and quality of programs.” Under the current B.C. Liberal budget plan, funding for post-secondary education will undergo a one per cent cut next year and another 1.5 per cent cut the year after. The NDP hasn’t released its full election platform yet, but according to deputy education critic Gwen O’Mahony, the party plans to give $100 million — nearly three times the amount proposed by the universities’ council — to a needs-based student grant program.

Kyle Warwick, vice-president external of the AMS, said that he was pleased with the proposal from the university presidents. “We think there’s a lot of great things. The emphasis on ... student financial aid is really exciting.” Warwick said he thought parts of the document would appeal to the current B.C. Liberal government, while other parts were more in line with early information about the NDP platform. “So I think it’s a very politically astute document that’s going to have a fair degree of traction from both major parties,” he said. However, Katie Mariocchi, chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students B.C. branch, doesn’t think the university presidents’ proposal goes far enough. “There’s some attempts to address the issue of accessibility and student debt,” said Mariocchi. “But the leader of the opposition is proposing a grants program that’s three times that much.... It’s modest in terms of really addressing the problem.” U

PROVINCIAL >>

B.C. schools struggle with unions

But some locals at UBC, UVic, TRU reach deals Micki Cowan CUP B.C. Bureau Chief

VANCOUVER (CUP) — Picketing and strikes are still underway for union locals at B.C. universities, but a few agreements have been reached. Labour action began last month at UBC, Simon Fraser University, Thompson Rivers University, the University of Victoria, the University of Northern B.C. and Royal Roads University. Some workers have been without an agreement for two years. At the University of Victoria, the Professional Employees Association union has reached a tentative agreement that will see a wage increase of two per cent, retroactive to July 1, 2012, and a further two per cent on July 1, 2013. The date for the membership to accept or reject that agreement has not been set, but will not take place before Nov. 1. CUPE 4879, which represents support workers at Thompson Rivers University, also reached a tentative four-year agreement on Oct. 23, with no wage increases for the first two years and two per cent increases in the final two years of the agreement. And at UBC, members of CUPE union local 2950, which represents clerical, library and hospital

staff, reached an agreement this week, according to CUPE bargaining co-chair Lois Rugg. Members have agreed to no wage increases from 2011-2012 and a two per cent increase in both 2013 and 2014. Strike action continued at UBC over the weekend for CUPE local 116, representing security and service workers. But as of Oct. 21, CUPE 116 reached a tentative agreement with the university. CUPE 116 has returned to work and will likely vote on their tentative agreement this week. Teaching assistants at UBC, represented by CUPE local 2278, have an active strike vote and are currently in mediation. They are holding an informal vote on Oct. 24 about potential job action. No agreements have been reached between the universities and other union members. Members continue at varying levels of strike action and negotiations. Strikes are ramping up at SFU to include the downtown campus. Approximately 70 employees participated in strikes there on Friday. Negotiations with unions at SFU are on hold. “SFU has refused to come to the bargaining table and strike action will heat up at their various locations,” said Rugg in

an email. Strike action is also ongoing in northern B.C. for CUPE local 3799, representing support and teaching staff at UNBC. For that group, though, Rugg said they may be close to a deal. Three other unions at UVic are still negotiating with the university, including teaching assistant union CUPE 4163, the support staff of 917 and the office, technical and childcare staff of 951, according to UVic media relations manager Denise Helm. “The locals are all at the table still, but continue to do strike action to put pressure on the employer,” said Rugg, on the negotiation status at UVic. Helm said no further information is available there due to a media blackout. Talks are continuing between Royal Roads University and CUPE 3886, which represents support and teaching staff. According to Paul Corns, associate vice president of community relations at RRU, there has been minimal job action from the union at that campus. “Things are progressing and the tone of the discussions is very positive,” said Corns. RRU and CUPE 3886 return to the bargaining table on Oct. 25. U

The tentative agreement between UBC and CUPE 116, reached late Sunday evening and ending the union’s multi-week strikes across campus, includes wage increases, expanded pension coverage and a promise that UBC won’t privatize CUPE 116’s jobs. The tentative deal includes a two per cent wage increase retroactive to April 2012. Union members will get an additional two per cent wage increase in April 2013. The deal also makes pensions available to all union members who work over 20 hours per week. Previously, only full-time staff could get pensions. “One of the most important things to us was the job security piece and the pension piece. More than 400 of our members now have access to a pension,” said Garbe. The CUPE 116 union local represents support and service workers all over UBC campus, including food service workers, custodians, tradespeople and security guards. They started striking on Oct. 4, and garbage collectors, campus mail workers and custodians were pulled off the job in the period before the agreement was reached. Director of UBC Public Affairs Lucie McNeill said the additional money came from finding inefficiencies in the university’s budget over the last few years. “You sort of scrape a couple of pennies here and a couple of dimes there and it ends up in a pot, with which you can either make investments that are of strategic importance to the university in terms of equipment that we need … or on the labour side. And in this case we’re able to attribute some of that to the labour side,” said McNeill. The deal also includes an increase in medical and dental benefits, up from 1.85 per cent of their total payroll to 2.15 per cent. During their job action, CUPE 116 expressed concern about a proposal from the provincial Ministry of Advanced Education that sought to decrease university administration costs in B.C. by consolidating services for schools across the province. The union was worried that the proposal would result in privatization and job losses for CUPE 116 workers. The union said that they would not sign an agreement while privatization of their jobs was a possibility. Garbe said that UBC has committed to job security for CUPE 116 members, both at the bargaining table and in a letter from UBC VP Finance Pierre Ouillet. “The university is not going to contract out or privatize our jobs. The government is another whole story. And if that happens with the government, that’s a fight we’ll have with the government,” said Garbe. Garbe said if the provincial government ever makes plans to contract out some of CUPE 116’s work, UBC has promised to consult CUPE 116 about the possibility and give the union a chance to dispute it. CUPE 2278, the union that represents TAs on campus, is still in mediation with UBC and has an active strike mandate. Garbe said that CUPE 116 members would assist the UBC TA union if they decide to take job action. “We’re with them 100 per cent, so we’re going to help them do whatever they need to secure a fair and reasonable collective agreement for their members,” said Garbe. U


THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 |

EDITOR C.J. PENTLAND

YOGA >>

B

Stretch, breathe, excel Athletes can benefit from yoga in many ways BILLY GREENE

Athletes at UBC may be surprised to hear what might be missing from their exercise regimen: yoga. UBC REC is conducting a “Yoga for Athletes” workshop on Nov. 3 to help athletes improve their game and discover what yoga has to offer. Instructors Samantha Burke and Clifton Chin are eager to share their knowledge and put together a rewarding workshop that teaches athletes how to incorporate yoga into their daily fitness routine. “Athletes may have tight hamstrings, tight quadriceps or a sore back, so we’ve tried to pick postures that will address those kinds of things for them,” said Burke. “We’re going to help them to stretch and bring more space into those areas of their body, which will eventually improve their performance in their sport.” “We haven’t chosen a lot of complicated postures,... but we do pinpoint postures that are easy to do on your own and we really dive deep into the details,” added Chin. “People will leave comfortably knowing they can do this at home, and we’ll send them home with handouts of the sequence and instructions. We’re always available and accessible to them, even after the workshop is over.” “We’ve both been working out at UBC for quite some time, and we thought it would be a really great workshop to do for

the varsity teams and athletes in general, for people that wanted to improve their inner sport and have more awareness in their body,” Burke said. Chin has previously trained the Canadian Olympic swimming team and was a competitive swimmer himself in the past, which is precisely why he understands the needs of a competitive athlete. “I know that sometimes stretching just isn’t enough,” he said. “With yoga, we take the whole body into account. It strengthens what needs to be strengthened and it repairs parts of the body in order to bring about healing in other areas. “A lot of people favour balance. As a swimmer, I always breathed on the right, and always favoured that side, so I overdeveloped certain areas and left others undeveloped. Yoga really allows you to balance both sides physiologically. If you’re stronger on one side, that means the other is weaker, and problems can arise as a result of that.” Yoga doesn’t just strengthen muscles; Burke noted that it can help with athletes’ in-game focus and concentration. “The breath, first and foremost: being able to connect to the breath and understand how it works and helps to quiet the mind is really key.… When you’re able to take that inwardly and focus, you’re really able to concentrate on a lot of different things in your life,” she said.

illy Greene of the UBC football team is the UBC Thunderbirds Athletic Council athlete of the week for the week ending Oct. 21. Greene, a fifth-year quarterback from Surrey, B.C., was a magician with the ball Saturday in Manitoba, both on the air and on the ground. With the T-Birds down by 26 at the half, Greene threw four touchdowns to briefly give the ’Birds the lead in the fourth quarter, but they ultimately fell short in the end. Greene rushed for 70 yards and amassed a total of 428 passing yards in the contest, which made him UBC’s all-time career leader in passing yards and moved him into fourth in the Canada West for career passing yards. Greene’s efforts also earned him the recognition of Canada West offensive player of the week.

Alexandra Leask/THE UBYSSEY

Yoga techniques can improve athletes’ mental and physical performance.

Zafira Rajan Senior Lifestyle Writer

4

“Aligning that idea of breath and the physical body is the idea of maximizing oxygen into the body,” Chin added. “So as we’re stretching, we’re bringing a lot of nutrients into those joints and regions that may be sore or injured. It shortens recovery time, and really brings about that idea of healing and bodily awareness that few people tend to have.... That really helps your game a lot.” The workshop will also elaborate on yoga’s origins and delve into research about its benefits in sport. “We really want to provide people with information about whether this actually works and what research has been on it,” said Chin. “It’s not going to be a fluffy workshop!” Burke said with a laugh. But participants shouldn’t feel daunted; the workshop is open to all levels of athletes, from casual gym-goers to varsity players, and will focus on hatha yoga, a simpler, gentler style of practice. “Because we only have a short period of time to introduce people to it, we don’t want them to feel intimidated,” Burke said. Finding inner peace, gaining muscular balance and shortening recovery time? It could be worth your $28 for two hours on a Saturday afternoon. U The Yoga for Athletes workshop takes place Nov. 3 at the Student Rec Centre. Registration closes Oct. 26. <em>

Get right up close with the athletes. WRITE. SHOOT.

SPORTS! (and rec)

PHOTO JOSH CURRAN/THE UBYSSEY

GAMES THIS WEEKEND SCHEDULE

SEASON STANDINGS

STANDINGS

Friday, Oct. 26

Men’s soccer

Women’s volleyball UBC vs Trinity Western 6 p.m. at War Memorial Gym

1. UBC 11-0-1

Men’s volleyball UBC vs Trinity Western 8 p.m. at War Memorial Gym Men’s hockey UBC vs Saskatchewan 7 p.m. at Father David Bauer Arena Women’s hockey UBC at Saskatchewan 6 p.m. Football UBC at Saskatchewan 6 p.m.

Prairie Division

2. Trinity Western 9-1-2 3. Victoria 5-5-2 4. Fraser Valley 3-5-4 5. UNBC 1-13-0

Men’s hockey 1. Saskatchewan 5-1-0 2. UBC 4-1-1 3. Calgary 4-2-0 4. Regina 4-2-0

Saturday, Oct. 27

5. Alberta 3-3-0

Women’s soccer (Canada West quarterfinal) UBC vs Alberta 4:30 p.m. at Thunderbird Stadium

6. Manitoba 3-3-0

Men’s soccer UBC vs Trinity Western 7 p.m. at Thunderbird Stadium Men’s hockey UBC vs Saskatchewan 7 p.m. at Father David Bauer Arena Men’s basketball UBC vs Lakehead 7 p.m. at War Memorial Gym Women’s and men’s volleyball UBC at Trinity Western 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

7. Mount Royal 1-5-0 8. Lethbridge 0-5-1

Women’s hockey 1. Alberta 6-0-0 2. Calgary 5-0-1 3. Mount Royal 3-2-1 4. Regina 3-3-0 5. UBC 2-2-2 6. Manitoba 2-3-1 7. Lethbridge 2-3-1 8. Saskatchewan 1-4-1


THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

| sports + rec | 5

VOLLEYBALL >>

UBC volleyball ready to rumble Men’s team hopes to harness young energy for a successful season

Bruce Chen Contributor

Following last season’s tough loss to the University of Alberta Golden Bears in the Canada West quarterfinals — plus the graduation of seven players — the CIS No. 9 ranked men’s volleyball team is in a unique position heading into the 2012-2013 campaign. There is just one fifthyear on the roster, and eight players are in either their first or second year. However, the young ’Birds will have little time to experience growing pains. The Canada West conference is home to six other teams ranked in the CIS top 10 — all ahead of the ’Birds — so they must act quickly to replace several longtime Thunderbird cornerstones. Despite this, the T-Birds retain a solid core of young and up-andcoming stars. Sophomore opposite hitter Jarrid Ireland is one of the most explosive young hitters in the country; he averaged 2.63 kills per set last season and was named to the CIS All-Rookie team. Setter Milan Nikic came in as a first-year last season and started several games, averaging 8.36 assists per set. And with a rare combination of size and technically sound arm swinging, 6-foot-10 sophomore Alex Russell is prepared to take over the role as the main man in the middle. But it isn’t just head coach Richard Schick who believes in those three; the trio was part of the Canadian Junior National team this past summer. They traveled to Colorado to help Canada win a silver medal in

the 2012 NORCECA championships, which featured teams from around North America. Russell was named the tournament’s best blocker, averaging 0.89 stuffs per set. The Thunderbirds weren’t just doing work for Canada in the gym either. Outside hitter Ben Chow was in Halifax this summer for the FIVB World Beach Volleyball Championships. He’s coming off a shoulder injury that kept him out all last season and forced him to redshirt, but hopes will be high for Chow; he’s expected to bring a variety of crafty shots to bolster the Thunderbird offence. The T-Birds have also brought in four recruits to help mitigate the loss of their senior players. Transferring from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology is setter Austin Hinchey, who captained their team for three seasons. With incumbent starter Nikic only going into his second year, Schick hopes Hinchey can add some experience to the position. Knowing he needs more help in the middle after the loss of three big guys, Schick is hoping to fill the void with 6-foot-8 Chris Howe from Saltspring Island and 6-foot-7 Mac McNicol from Calgary. Howe spent his first two years of eligibility as a starting member of the UBC Okanagan Heat, where he was an All-Rookie team member in his first year. He’ll be in familiar territory with the ’Birds; he played with standout starting libero, Ian Perry, on the B.C. provincial team and Canadian Junior National team.

Rounding out the recruits this year is Quentin Schmidt, an outside hitter who transferred from Red Deer College. He led his team to the league championships twice and was named Second Team All-Star in 2012. He’ll help Chow lead the high-powered offensive attack. While the starting core for UBC is forming nicely, there’s still doubt about who will break through to take the reins in the outside hitter spots. David Zeyha was excellent last season, and he and Chow will have a good shot to start. However, they will also have competition from Schmidt and Noah Derksen. Ireland is a safe bet to start on the right, but

Zeyha is a multi-purpose hitter who could slide over to the opposite side if needed. The ’Birds wrapped up the preseason by finishing second in the Thunderball tournament with a 3-1 record, improving to 6-3 overall. They lost a nail-biter in the fifth set of the final to Thompson Rivers University, but showed the fight and resolve it takes to gut out matches in the Canada West. Nikic and Russell were named tournament All-Stars. With so many players leaving and so much new blood, Schick is hoping that the new players can establish their own identity on the court. The ’Birds will look to

play a scrappy style of volleyball, anchored by their defensive play in the backcourt and at the net. They will lean heavily on Russell, Howe and veteran middle Jeff Ross to close up blocks and help Perry and the rest on the backcourt. They’ll begin the regular season slate with a tough home-and-home series against the No. 1 ranked Trinity Western Spartans on Friday and Saturday, but facing the two-time defending national champions will be no better test for the ’Birds, who have a lot to prove this season. Friday’s game takes place at War Memorial Gym, with the first serve at 8 p.m. U

PHOTO KAI JACOBSON/THEUBYSSEY

The men’s volleyball team is currently ranked ninth in Canada, but there are six other Canada West teams ranked ahead of them.

VOLLEYBALL >>

Women’s volleyball shows no signs of slowing down Strong competition stands in the way of the Thunderbirds making history

C.J. Pentland Sports + Rec Editor

After winning five straight national championships, one could easily assume that the UBC women’s volleyball team is simply too good for the other teams in Canada. But none of those titles came easily, and 2012-2013 will be no different; the Thunderbirds will have their work cut out for them if they want to tie the CIS record of six consecutive national titles. The top three teams in Canada come from the Canada West conference — Trinity Western, UBC and Alberta, in that order — with two other western teams rounding out the top 10. Alberta topped UBC in the Canada West final last season before the ’Birds got their revenge in the CIS final, and TWU just took over top spot in the rankings after defeating UBC in exhibition play this past Sunday. In a sense, it could be said that winning the Canada West championship is equally as impressive as taking home the national trophy. “There’s no way you can book your travel too early, because there’s going to be three Canada West teams going [to nationals] and there’s going to be a couple of other good Canada West teams not even there,” said UBC head coach Doug Reimer. The T-Birds will be thrown into the line of fire right away to start the season. A home-andhome series against TWU opens the regular season this weekend,

The second ranked women’s volleyball team is set to defend their national title for the fifth straight year.

followed by a two-game series at home against Alberta next weekend. After these two series, the ’Birds will know how they stack up against Canada’s best. In an ideal world, Reimer said he would prefer to face these top squads further down the line. “To be honest, I would prefer that we would play them in the second half of the season,… just so that we could do a little bit more with them in the preseason,” said Reimer, who is entering his 16th season as coach at UBC. “But it definitely snaps you into league focus immediately.” Though the majority of the

team will return to defend their title, several key members from last year’s squad will be missing. However, Reimer cites a deep roster as a trademark of T-Bird teams, and this year will be no different. “Without question, a strength of our team over the last few years has been our depth and our ability to fill in,” said Reimer. “So while we miss [the departing players], I think there’s a number of players ready to really take their opportunities and go for it.” Lisa Barclay and Shanice Marcelle are two returning outside hitters who both played with the

PHOTO KAI JACOBSON/THE UBYSSEY

Canadian national team this past summer; the two are expected to play a bigger role this year with the departure of the seniors. Marcelle was named a first-team All-Canadian last year, and both were named tournament AllStars at CIS nationals. Brina Derksen-Bergen was also named a tournament AllStar and a second-team All-Canadian. She will be the number one setter again this year for the ’Birds, with the help of Kirsty Setterlund. A player who didn’t have as big of an impact last year but hopes to thrive in her expanded role is

third-year Rosie Schlagintweit. Last year’s CIS player of the year, Kyla Richey, was ahead of her on the depth chart last season, but Richey’s departure has opened the door for Schlagintweit to step in on offence. UBC will retain their potent offence from last year, which saw them lead the Canada West in hitting percentage, kills and assists, but their defensive game is equally as impressive. The ’Birds also led the conference in blocks and opponent hitting percentage. Reimer said he sees defence once again being a key part of his team’s game. “Potentially a strength of our team is our passing,” he said. “Nights where we’re handling the ball well in the backcourt, we will have a lot of good offence.” Briana Liau Kent will play the libero position for UBC along with Danielle Richards, who will fill in and also be a back-row specialist. There is no shortage of talent on this year’s roster, and they will need contributions from all sides to make it to nationals, let alone win their sixth straight gold medal. It would be yet another unprecedented feat, one that will help cement the team’s status as an athletic dynasty at UBC, especially considering the teams that they will have to overcome. It’ll be yet another tough campaign for UBC, but it’s clear that they aren’t intimidated. In 20122013, the T-Birds will be right there in the mix for six. U


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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

UBC’s libraries turn the page

As shelves of books make way for online databases, the role of the university library is changing. But with an uncertain future, what are libraries doing to adapt? By Andrew Bates

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he word “library” does not refer to the same institution it did 10 years ago. Since 2002, libraries at UBC have changed dramatically, from what they buy, to how they use their space, to what users read and where they read it. UBC has continuously overhauled its library system in recent years without knowing what it might look like a decade from now, and even without knowing where the money for the changes will come from. “When I was a student... at least 50 per cent of my day was spent in the chemistry library on the floor amongst the stacks, working,” said David Farrar, UBC vice-president academic and provost. “The world has changed in remarkable ways.” Farrar knows the libraries are still very popular, but they’re now used very differently. “Wander around this place and you’ll see students everywhere,” he said, noting the 2012 renovations to Koerner Library that included a new study lounge. “You won’t see very many people in the stacks. And that’s the reality of the libraries we’re in now.” Given that 60 per cent of UBC’s library collection hasn’t been picked up off the shelf in eight years, taking away book stacks and adding study spaces will be one of the few clear trends. “The rest is ... more or less negotiable. That’s what makes it interesting and challenging,” said Mark Vessey, chair of the Senate library committee. “Given that nobody quite knows what the ideal form

for a university library would be in 2020, what do we move first? What are our priorities?” The university will have to change how it handles electronic resources, work out copyrights for journal services and digitize its archives. It also needs to re-think how space is used and figure out how to effectively store its inkand-paper archives. But in order to make any of this happen, libraries are forced to grapple for scarce university resources amid all of UBC’s different departments. “You can spin this whichever way you like,” Vessey said. “We’re all really relishing having such an interesting logistical, intellectual, organizational challenge — or we’re really struggling to deal with a massive set of variables in a time of very restricted resources.”

GATHERING DUST In just 10 years, the ratio of electronic to print usage has been completely reversed. “Our [book] circulation numbers have decreased very dramatically,... but our electronic usage data is just off the charts,” said Jo Anne Ramirez, associate university librarian in charge of collections. In the 2002-2003 school year, the library only spent 21 per cent of its purchasing budget on electronic material. This year, that figure is 72 per cent. “Over the next five to 10 years, I’m sure it’ll go up to 90 per cent,” said university librarian Ingrid Parent. “That means that students

and faculty have immediate access to information from wherever they are. They don’t even need to physically come to a library.” The science and engineering faculties were quickest to adopt online materials, while the humanities have made the switch more slowly. As scholarly journals go digital, they’ve had the biggest impact on how academics do their work. Researchers are no longer forced to comb through volume after volume of abstracts to find one specific article; now it’s as easy as typing in a search query and clicking a mouse. But there’s a trade-off for all that convenience. Much of the online material offered is under licence, meaning the library doesn’t own the material as it would in print. “[Publishers] have a profound impact on what we have access to ... in ways that didn’t exist when I was a student. You bought the book, you put it on the shelf, it was there, you owned it,” Farrar said. “[Now] we’re buying access to their information. If they take it away from us, it’s gone.” UBC wants to make sure it has long-term usage rights to 75 per cent of its digital collection. According to Ramirez, “It’s a struggle. To buy the content, to have perpetual access rights, costs extra,” she said. “The library’s in a really awkward situation, because we want to provide and be a broker of information. “But we’re not the people that produce it [and] we’re not necessarily the consumer; we’re just a middle man.”

STAYING RELEVANT Aside from providing access to external material, the library also tries to add a unique voice to the conversation. To this end, they’ve started to make UBC’s special collections accessible on the Internet. “What will distinguish libraries in the future is not what we electronically licence, but what we have in our collections that we make available to the world,” said Allan Bell, director for digital initiatives at UBC Library. The university’s digitization strategy involves finding items crucial to research and learning at UBC that are owned by the library. “A lot of what we have are unique treasures,” Bell said. “This is literally the only place where you can find these collections.” So far, documents that UBC has digitized include early B.C. newspapers and correspondence of an oral history of the early Chinese-Canadian community. “We’re trying to shine light into the dark corners of the library and bring those things to light,” Bell said. UBC also maintains a digital repository of research output called cIRcle, which contains everything from speeches to every thesis since the university’s inception. With all of UBC’s unique electronic materials, preserving data is as important as protecting physical materials. “More and more, things are born digital,” Bell said. “[For] much of our stuff, the intellectual content cannot be

encapsulated in a piece of paper, put in an acid-free envelope and then put on a shelf.” Storing the data isn’t just a matter of backups. UBC must ensure files are authentic and protected, and consider whether they can be distributed to other universities so that they aren’t in danger of being lost to future earthquakes in the Lower Mainland. “It’s something that the entire world is looking at now, because so much is at risk of being lost,” Bell said. “We need to start moving to make sure that these things will not be lost to the future.”

STORAGE SQUEEZE But as more material goes digital, keeping old but rarely used books and documents becomes a challenge as well. “One of our objectives, really, is to maintain that collection,” said Parent. “The problem is that you can’t maintain it in book stacks that are right in the core of campus. Because if they’re not being used, they’re taking up space and that space could be used for better purposes.” One of the main innovations that moved the libraries away from stacks was the “library robot,” the Automatic Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS). Installed when the old Main Library was renovated into the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre in 2005, ASRS automated book retrieval and concentrated collections into a smaller space.


THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

| feature | 7

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: 1) Students study together in the Chapman Learning Commons in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. 2) The Automated Storage and Retrieval System allows books to be stored in a smaller space. 3) In 2012, 72 per cent of the library’s purchasing budget was spent on electronic material. 4) In the past eight years, 60 per cent of UBC’s library collection has not been taken off the shelf. 5) Increasingly, libraries are transforming into study spaces rather than physical repositories.

PHOTOS KAI JACOBSON & STEPHANIE XU/THE UBYSSEY

The next step might be moving rarely used books off campus altogether. The B.C. Integrated Research Library is a proposed $10 million storage facility in South Campus that is currently winding through approval from the UBC Board of Governors. If the project is approved, construction is planned to end in 2014. Rarely used books could be stored in the building and digitized on request. The facility would operate jointly with other schools in the region, preserving “last copies” of books and documents without requiring all universities to store individual copies. “We took a look at all of our collections, and the University of Alberta and us have the largest amount,” said Ramirez. “We realized we all are keeping a lot of the same stuff.... There’s a need to keep it for the future, but maybe we don’t need to keep 22 copies of it.” “Increasingly, libraries will be known by their individual collections,” said Farrar. “No library holds all the works of the world.” UBC is still ironing out the details, but the deal with other universities is expected to last for five years before the schools come back to the table to renegotiate. The big worry for university users is whether it will make material less accessible. “The fact is, none of us really knows what that facility is going to be like yet and what using it would feel like,” Vessey said. “There is certainly, on one hand, some anxiety on the part of people whose work

involves consistently consulting real books,... who are worried that the books they used to be able to get down from the shelves or get fetched by the robot might become less accessible. “What they want to know, and what we can’t tell them yet, is what the rules of accessibility will be.” Ultimately, it would be a cost-saving measure for the university. “The cost of housing and maintaining an item in the open stacks on the core of campus is fairly expensive,” said Ramirez. “If you put it in a storage facility,... it’s so much cheaper. It’s like a fifth of the cost.”

TRADING SPACES The shrinking stacks signal a true change: libraries are starting to look very different. “I graduated from UBC many years ago, and I remember the old Main Library here, before it became what it is now,” Parent said. “My goodness, it was dark and it was just stacks and a few desks and that was it.” Increasingly, storage space is being converted into study space. “This is where students — and faculty, too — come for the learning environment, to work together, to do projects together,” said Parent, pointing to the conversion of the third floor of Koerner Library to a study lounge. “Every seat is taken, if you walk through. I think libraries have evolved into that community engagement, joint learning facility, and less so for checking out physical books.”

Libraries aren’t being replaced, they’re being transformed. “A few years ago, people thought that we’d stop talking about the idea of libraries. That the library was identified with the book, [and] was obsolete,” Vessey said. “So the [Irving K. Barber] Learning Centre comes along, and presumably that’s the first step to abolishing the language of libraries. Instead, what’s happened is that the word library has taken on all these new kinds of life.”

FINDING FUNDING In the midst of changes and new responsibilities, one thing hasn’t changed much: a lack of funding. Library budgets have been stagnant several years. There are a few exceptions, like capital construction projects and moving copyright checks in-house, but there isn’t much money left over. Farrar attributes this to the lack of salary growth during the provincial government’s net-zero bargaining mandate for public workers, the strategy of downsizing the number of librarians when existing ones quit or retired, and the improvement of purchasing power for the Canadian dollar. “It’s struggling a little bit to keep its budget balanced, and we’re working on that,” Farrar said. The library operates like a faculty in terms of management, with Parent equal in stature to a dean. But unlike faculties, central departments don’t get a share of tuition and don’t have as much

control over their own budgets, according to Vessey. “As the needs of the university with respect to the university have continued to increase, the library has had more difficulty balancing the books,” said Vessey. “It is not easy; it’s a finite amount that we have to live with,” said Parent. “In terms of fundraising, that is difficult, too, for the library. Because we don’t have alumni, like a faculty does. You don’t graduate from the library.” The situation has hit a flashpoint. UBC has drawn ire in its attempts to reassign several of the university’s branch libraries, which serve individual faculties. The highest-profile decision was to move the Music Library from the music building into the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. “Changes are always disruptive; it’s often resisted and protested,” Vessey said. “There’s probably never going to be a really good way to close facilities that people are used to having on their doorstep.” But this “slight jolt,” according to Vessey, has drawn people’s attention. “At best, it has sensitized a lot of people a little bit more to the scope and the magnitude of the challenges that the library’s actually dealing with.” Libraries’ natural service ethic makes it easy for them to take new tasks and harder for them to complain, according to Vessey. “So as the university turns to the library for expert help with copyright clearance issues or turns to the library to find new kinds of re-

sources for the community or new kinds of study space for students, the library says, ‘We can do that.’ “That’s what libraries in universities do. They cover what needs to be done,” Vessey continued. “It’s really difficult for a library to turn to its university community and say, ‘Guys, um, we’re in trouble.’ Or, ‘Guys, you need to help.’”

READING AHEAD Although everything under the hood is rapidly changing, it’s clear that libraries still have a major role to play. “It’s reassuring that we still have the library, even though the library is not very like what we used to have, and it’s going to be less and less like it as the years go by,” said Vessey. Parent said that time changes not just technology, but what’s important in research and scholarship. “The library at a university is really the place that maintains that archive, and I think that’s essential, because the Googles and the Microsofts of the world are not going to think about long-term access.” As things rapidly change, the library has no option but to juggle living up to its own standards as an archive and evolving as a modern, responsive service. “It’s another version of this living laboratory that the university’s meant to be,” Vessey said. “It’s a place where we’re working all this stuff out on the fly. And now a few more people realize that.” U


THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 |

EDITOR ANNA ZORIA

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HISTORY >>

The weird and wonderful Waldorf How a 65-year-old hotel reopened, rebooted and became one of Vancouver's coolest creative venues

Rhys Edwards Senior Culture Writer

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estled between a car dealership, vacant gravel lots and a series of drab warehouses, the gaudy facade of the Waldorf Hotel looks lost. To the west of the Waldorf lies the colour and grit of the Downtown Eastside, and to the southeast, the bohemia-chic of Commercial Drive. By contrast, the north Strathcona industrial area is desolate, with endless flocks of crows swarming over the area amid oppressive grey skies. It’s hardly an auspicious location for a hotel. Yet since its reopening in 2010, the Waldorf has proven to be one of Vancouver’s most lively cultural locales. To call it a hotel is misleading; aside from guest bedrooms, the Waldorf is home to two restaurants, a hair salon, a basement lounge, a liquor store, a music studio, an art gallery, a souvenir shop and an iconic tiki bar. Despite its unusual location, the hotel’s eclectic programming draws in visitors every day of the week. At the end of October, the hotel will run its famous Halloweenland parties, alongside a series of events celebrating the two-year anniversary of its 2010 reopening. Thousands of people will be attending, and most tickets have already sold out. How is it that this eccentric institution at the periphery of Vancouver has come to attract so many people?

HOW IT ALL STARTED The man behind the Waldorf’s construction in 1947 was Bob Mills, a Vancouver businessman. One of the hotel’s most striking features is its Art Moderne architecture; it’s one of the only examples of such in the city. Most buildings from that period have long since been destroyed, but the Waldorf remains because it's so far away from the downtown core. According to the Waldorf’s brand and design director, Daniel Fazio, the location of the hotel is actually central to its success. “It’s a double-edged sword.

It’s in a strange location, which is a challenge, but if it wasn’t in a strange location, it wouldn’t be there," said Fazio. Mills initially ran the Waldorf as a motor hotel. It had one of the biggest beer halls in the city, which appealed to the local population of working class labourers. However, in the ’50s, Mills went to visit Hawaii, where he became enamoured with Polynesian culture. He brought back a set of black velvet paintings with the dream that they would someday form the centrepiece of a hip new tiki bar. Warding off his wife’s misgivings, Mills commissioned professional architects to design the bar from the ground up. It opened in 1953 to great acclaim, leading to a city-wide affinity for

“It’s got that feeling; it’s almost got a bit of a creepiness to it.... It definitely feels pretty David Lynch in here.” Ronan Boyle Visual Artist

tiki-style vendors. The beer hall still remained open, leading to a pluralistic approach to leisure and entertainment that characterizes the Waldorf to this day. “At the time, you still had the beer hall going, so you had these cultures working together within the hotel,” said Fazio. “Upstairs, you had a more working class, beer-drinking culture in the beer hall, and then the tiki bar was more of a nightlife, middle class kind of culture.” Due to the economic impoverishment of East Vancouver from the ’70s onwards, Mills sold the hotel to different proprietors, who sealed off the tiki bar and only opened it for private bookings. But in 2010, the hotel came under new management. Rather than completely rebuilding, the new owners incorporated the architecture and its associated history into the contemporary Waldorf brand.

ver-based visual artist who has worked extensively with the Waldorf, designing sets and stages for many of its events. “It’s got that feeling; it’s almost got a bit of a creepiness to it.... It definitely feels pretty David Lynch in here.” Boyle is responsible for the direction of one of this year’s biggest Halloween attractions: a classic horror cinema-themed maze in the hotel’s parking lot. It’s a complex affair, featuring props, actors and hovering film projections, all coordinated by several departments of talented artists. While the maze will undoubtedly terrify visitors, Boyle noted that it’s also an opportunity for local creatives to experiment. “It’s an opportunity for them to do something that isn’t under [a] budget or under the direction of a major studio. They can have more room to play and create,” said Boyle. “I’d like to think that what we’ve been producing,... there’s something a little more to it than it being just kind of like an attraction people are used to.” There’s more than meets the eye in the Waldorf brand, too. Underneath the kitschy, cream-and-bamboo décor is an unironic awareness of the history of tiki culture itself, which comes from American ex-servicemen who yearned to recreate the debauchery of their island-hopping exploits. “It kind of gives this darkness to it that you don’t really get on the surface if you just think it’s like kitsch,” said Fazio. “It’s also an interesting movement,

because if you think about pre-60s America [and] tiki culture, there’s a sexuality in a lot of the imagery. Exotic Polynesian women, tiki girls — that was not in mainstream culture.” The key to the Waldorf brand’s success is that it distinguishes itself from the mainstream without alienating potential customers by trying to appeal to only one specific subculture. According to Fazio, the breadth of different spaces within the hotel has enabled the Waldorf to embrace a “democratic” approach in its programming. “We wanted to create an environment where everybody felt comfortable, that was welcoming to every community in the city, because we can accommodate everybody.”

THE GOLDEN AGE Marc Godfrey, an artist-in-residence at the Waldorf, epitomizes the inclusivity of the venue. He runs a monthly "goth night" at the hotel called the Shadow Line. “It’s the only place we can do this, because it’s the only place in Vancouver that’s so artistically friendly that they will actually put up with our huge amounts of retarded ideas.... I don’t think it would work anywhere else, essentially because the Waldorf was taken over by artists, the only people crazy enough to allow this to happen.” On Thursday night, Godfrey will be playing with his band, the Vampire Bats, in the Shadow Line Halloween special. The event

will also include a DJ set and a burlesque-meets-horror "gorelesque" show. Although Shadow Line draws a large crowd, Godfrey worries that the success of the venue may eventually backfire on the Waldorf. “Right now, it’s a very inthe-know, hip kind of thing: not hipster, actually hip. The minute you get douchebags invading your scene, then it’s over.... Maybe by next year it will all be ruined.” Ronan Boyle shares a similar view: “For people that are interested, it’s something you might want to come down and experience. It’s hard to say how long a business like this will last.” It’s possible, however, that the Waldorf represents a new model of cultural development. In keeping a liberal attitude towards its creative programming and maintaining an amenable public persona, the Waldorf may avoid self-gentrification. Having seen the positive community development surrounding the hotel, Fazio is hopeful for the future. “I’m optimistic about it," he said. "I think it could be cool for the area to have that kind of energy, and hopefully the people that move in are great, and hopefully we’ve inspired the developments and they’re excited to be around us.... I think it could be a good thing.” U

KITSCH AND DARKNESS “The hotel is very David Lynch," said Ronan Boyle, a Vancou-

PHOTOS COURTESY OF DANIEL FAZIO

Left: The Mills family, original owners of the Waldorf Hotel. Right: Three happy Smurfs at last year’s Halloween party at the Waldorf.


THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

| culture | 9

FOOD >>

Put pumpkins on your plate, not your porch WHAT AM I EATING?

by Tyler McRobbie In the wave of post-Halloween stupor, fuelled by excessive drinking and candy-induced sugar highs, many jack-o-lanterns end their lives smashed across the neighbour’s sidewalk. With the holiday just around the corner and pumpkin season in full swing, it’s high time someone shared a bit of advice on what to do with these often mistreated gourds. It’s a shame that so many pumpkins end up rotting in landfills, considering how many nutrients are hiding in them. Why not try eating them instead? The process is easier than you think, and pumpkin flesh can be used in a wide variety of dishes, both sweet and savoury. While your jack-o-lantern won’t be fit for food after sitting out all night, you’ll be saving at least one pumpkin from its tragic fate by picking up a fresh one from your local grocery store. The store will be itching to get rid of them, and you might even score a discounted deal if you go post-Halloween. When selecting your pumpkin, look for one around four pounds, with a heavy, dense feel to it. Begin by cutting it right down the middle as you would a melon.

Clean the gunk out of the halves and give them a quick rinse. The seeds can be toasted for a tasty snack, but the stringy stuff has no real use. There are different cooking options, but the best method is baking. It preserves the pumpkin's nutrients, and the natural sugars will caramelize and yield a better flavour. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, place your pumpkin halves in a large baking dish and cover with ¼ inch of water. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until fork-tender. When fully cooked, pulp from pumpkin is easy to scoop out, leaving behind the tough skin. Purée the pulp until smooth in a blender or food processor, and run it through a sieve if you want it to be really silky. At this point, the purée is perfectly suited for any number of seasonal dishes. You can add the purée to scones, soups, muffins or even your latte — and it freezes well, in case you’re sick of all things pumpkin. U

MORE ONLINE Still at a loss for what to do with your pumpkin? Check out Tyler’s full video with more pumpkin recipes at ubyssey.ca

DO IT YOURSELF Cream of pumpkin soup is perfect for those cold, rainy days in the city, and a nice change of pace from the usual pumpkin pie recipes everyone else is plugging. Give it a try and reap the delicious benefits.

CREAM OF PUMPKIN SOUP 1 cup onions , diced ½ cup carrots , diced 2 tbsp. butter 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock 2 cups pumpkin purée 2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. cumin 1 tsp. pepper ½ tsp. ground ginger 1 cup heavy cream <strong>

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In a large pot, sauté onions and carrots in butter until tender. Add two cups of stock and simmer for 15 minutes. Transfer to a blender and purée until smooth. Return the onion and carrot purée to the pot and add two more cups of stock, plus the pumpkin purée, salt, cumin, pepper and ginger. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add heavy cream. DAVID MARINO PHOTO/THE UBYSSEY

Pumpkins can be used to make all sorts of delicious seasonal treats.

POP CULTURE >>

5 costumes to resist this Halloween Matt Meuse Staff Writer

Halloween is days away, and that means it’s crunch time for choosing a costume. But just because you’re pressed for time doesn’t mean you have to be pressed for creativity; after all, you don’t want to show up at a party just to be greeted by three friends wearing the same costume as you. With that in mind, The Ubyssey has prepared this handy list of costumes sure to be done to death this year, so you can cross them off your list right now. <em>

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1. PSY We’ve all seen the YouTube video for the runaway K-pop hit “Gangnam Style.” We’ve heard it on the radio, at the bar and from the overdriven speakers of every Imagine Day booth, table or tent. PSY, the man behind the worldwide sensation, is guaranteed to show up at your Halloween event of choice this year, and you’ll be lucky to escape without being forced to watch the “Gangnam Style” dance at least once. Sexy PSY: Predictable to the point of tautology. </em>

2.Honey Boo Boo As a connoisseur of only the finest in reality television, you are no doubt familiar with this fall’s hottest new program, TLC’s Here Comes Honey Boo Boo . You are thrilled and entertained by the <em>

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antics and attitude of the sassy Southern seven-year-old and her family, and having closely followed her rise to stardom from her debut on Toddlers in Tiaras, you know she has what it takes to win. You are only vaguely aware that TLC stands for The Learning Channel, and this causes you almost no cognitive dissonance at all. Be all this as it may, please don’t be Honey Boo Boo for Halloween. Sexy Honey Boo Boo: Problematic on many, many levels. </em>

3. 50 Shades of Grey This erotic novel has taken the world by storm since its release in June 2011. It’s a kinky love story that was, according to lore, adapted from Twilight fan fiction. Full of steamy sex scenes and some seriously purple prose, it’s hard to say whether it’s more famous as a guilty pleasure or a catch-all punchline. Either way, avoid 50 Shades -based costumes this year; all the good puns have been done already, and you’ll just have to keep explaining yourself if you dress up as any of the characters. Sexy 50 Shades of Grey : You think you’re so clever, don’t you? <em>

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4. Bane The Dark Knight turned heads in the summer of 2008, due in no small part to the late Heath Ledger’s captivatingly psychotic take on the Joker. That year, no

Halloween party was complete without at least three greasyhaired doofuses in purple suits, each of whom felt the constant need to ask why everyone was so serious. In the wake of this summer’s sequel, The Dark Knight Rises, you can count on a veritable army of Banes à la Tom Hardy making the rounds. Be prepared; they’ve all been practicing their Darth Connery voice. Sexy Bane : Okay, this could actually be pretty funny. </em>

5. Binder Full of Women With the American presidential election only weeks away, expect topical costumes to be popular. You may have heard about an amusing gaffe made by Republican candidate Mitt Romney during a televised debate, wherein he admitted that, when taking office as the governor of Massachusetts, he required binders full of women’s resumés to fill cabinet positions. While the phrase “binders full of women” is indeed comedy gold, the context behind it is actually cause for serious concern. The temptation to get political with your costume may be strong, but don’t do it. Halloween is a time for fun, not a time for getting punched in the eye by everyone you’ve alienated. Sexy Binder Full of Women: Only if you can, without the help of Wikipedia, name bell hooks’ three most notable works. U


THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 |

STUDENT VOICE. COMMUNITY REACH.

LAST WORDS

Why we declined an ad from the Salvation Army To Whom it May Concern: After considerable staff discussion and a vote by the editorial board, The Ubyssey has opted to decline to run an advertisement from the Salvation Army, slated for the Oct. 25 print edition. The editorial board had grave concerns about both the content and source of the advertisement, and thus cannot, in good conscience, accept it for publication. In a unanimous vote, the editorial board decided that we are uncomfortable running an ad from an organization such as the Salvation Army. In the past 10 years, branches of the Salvation Army have petitioned all levels of government for policies that deny equal rights to LGBTQ people. In 2004, the Salvation Army threatened to leave New York City entirely because of an ordinance that required groups with contracts from the city to “offer benefits to gay employees’ partners,” according to the New York Times . Their current position statement on homosexuality “calls for chastity outside of heterosexual marriage.” While the Canadian branch has been less vocal on this front, we believe the organization as a whole ultimately dehumanizes a group of people on the basis of their sexuality. Like many other student newspapers in Canada, The Ubyssey has a longstanding ad boycott policy that allows the editorial board to refuse ads that are “overtly sexist, racist or homophobic.” As an editorial board, we can decline <em>

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ILLUSTRATION INDIANA JOEL/THE UBYSSEY

University presidents would like millions of new dollars from the province. Also, it’s Halloween, so here’s Stephen Toope as a wizard?

FOR CUPE 116, THE ENEMY OF THEIR ENEMY IS THEIR FRIEND? After weeks of strikes, CUPE 116 finally has a deal. And it’s basically the best deal they could’ve hoped for. They’re getting the biggest raise they could have expected given the government’s restrictions, and more importantly, UBC has promised not to contract out any of their jobs. That’s huge. When the strikes started, it looked like the government planned to “make universities more efficient” by (probably) contracting out tons of jobs. And there was nothing UBC could do about it. But UBC hates being told what to do by Victoria just as much as the union does. So, united in their hatred, the university told the province that if the Liberals try to push this plan through, UBC will have the union’s back. With public-sector unions and universities at each others’ throats across the province, it’s heartening to see that this shared frustration with the government wound up leaving both parties satisfied.

ARE THE PRESIDENTS OF B.C.’S LARGEST UNIVERSITIES GOING NDP? Last week, the presidents of B.C.’s major research universities — UBC, Simon Fraser University, University of Victoria, University of Northern B.C., Royal Roads University and Thompson Rivers University — went to the government and told them they would like more money. They’ve gone on a bit of a media blitz recently, promoting what they’re calling the Opportunity Agenda for B.C. In a nutshell, they want to: • Create 11,000 new funded domestic spaces over the next four years, divided roughly equally between undergrad, grad and trades programs, aimed at creat-

ing jobs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. This would make it possible for “every qualified student in B.C. [to] attend a university, college or institute regardless of financial circumstances.” • Establish 24,000 needs-based grants for undergraduates, worth up to $1,500 apiece. • Create 1,000 $15,000 scholarships for students enrolled in a graduate program at a B.C. university. The university presidents justified the new spending in a number of ways. Students are choosing not to stay in B.C. once they finish their studies. There’s a looming skills gap: the oft-cited situation of people with no jobs and jobs with no people. And post-secondary is one of the

There are certain things that will always be bad ideas. They do not stop being bad ideas around Halloween.

only sectors to be defunded in the last provincial budget. So where does this big ol’ election year wish list fit on the political spectrum? It seems to be leaning pretty heavily towards the NDP. They’ve promised $100 million in non-repayable student grants, more than double what the university presidents have asked for. The Liberals, meanwhile, are standing by their position that the government already pays enough into post-secondary education and more money needs to go towards skills training. Of course, university presidents would never go out on a limb and endorse a political party. They’re more subtle than that. But if one of them, say,

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wears an orange tie in the near future, feel free to read into that as much as you’d like.

HERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU SHOULD NOT DRESS UP AS FOR HALLOWEEN There are certain things that will always be bad ideas. They do not stop being bad ideas around Halloween. As a public service, here is a brief list of things to avoid this weekend: fat suits, any sort of sexualized children’s character (we’re looking at you, Sexy Big Bird/ Chewbacca/Pikachu), genitalia, and racial stereotypes (doubly offensive if you add the word “sexy” in front of them).

HEY, WE SHOULD HANG OUT, BUT, YOU KNOW, MIDTERMS We’ve all experienced this in some way or another, and it seems to be an inextricable part of academic life. You may bond with rez friends, classmates or club members, but once you no longer have any reason to associate — you move out, the class ends, you graduate — you don’t keep in touch, and any random encounters are filled with awkward silences and empty promises. This sort of experience seems particularly common at UBC, especially during midterms. The campus is huge, for one thing; you’ll almost never “just bump into” your friends unless you coordinate beforehand. For those living off-campus, school is the only time many people are ever in the same geographical area, particularly since UBC is surrounded by forests and rich people instead of a clearly defined “student ghetto” like other universities. It’s disheartening to see relationships fall apart for no reason other than lack of proximity. So next time you have that awkward encounter, embrace it. Actually, text them and get that coffee or go for drinks or whatever you normally promise to do. You’ll feel good about it. U

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advertisements not only because of offending ad copy or artwork, but because we disagree with the source of the ad. The Ubyssey also maintains a policy against running advertisements from either side of the abortion debate. In our experience, ads that are either “pro-choice” or “pro-life” do little to advance civil debate on the issue. The following paragraph, which appears in the advertisement in the shape of a hypodermic needle, is a clear violation of that policy: “Before you know it, I’m a 24-year-old prostitute trying to support a crack habit. Then it happened. I found out I was having a baby. I wanted an abortion but I got thrown in jail before I could do it. That gave me time to think. When I got out, I knew what I had to do. So I started a support program to help me find what I’d been missing most. My self-esteem. Today I’m three years clean and have a beautiful baby girl. That’s the war on drugs Salvation Army helped me win.” We understand that the Salvation Army provides vital social services like soup kitchens, shelters and thrift shops in many communities. But it also endorses and actively lobbies for social policies that shame people for who they are. It is on these grounds that we must decline this advertisement. <em>

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Signed, <em>

The Ubyssey editorial board </em>

Plenty of journals for creative undergrads

LETTER

featuring some very brilliant poets, writers, scholars, photographers, artists, a musician and he Garden Statuary, a filmmaker. With a board of 11 UBC’s undergraduate editors this year and our collabjournal of English, oration with the UBC English welcomes Gold Literary Students’ Association to finance Magazine to UBC (“New stuour upcoming print editions, I dent mag to print this January,” can safely say that we are entirely Oct. 18) and wishes to correct student-powered and strongly the statement that “before Gold student-supported. Literary Magazine the student I agree that UBC needs more community lacked a literary creative venues for students and magazine that was made by stuit’s fantastic to see the emergence dents, for students.” By mishap of new publications like Gold or misquote, the Literary Magaarticle fails to UBC needs more zine. However, I represent jourwant to give creative venues for do nals like The Garcredit where students and it’s credit is due. den Statuary and Ignite, the underfantastic to see the Indeed, it should graduate journal further noted emergence of new be of women’s and that Fugue acpublications like Gold cepts creative litgender studies. Both are stuLiterary Magazine. erary work from dent-run publicataking However, I do want to students tions which offer creative writing undergraduates a give credit where credit courses. creative literary is due. As well, there platform. has been a rich While I can’t precedent of speak for Ignite, I would like literary journals in the past: Arc to note that one of the central in the ’80s, Roots in the ’90s and purposes of The Garden Statuary Uprooted in 2005 and 2006. is to showcase diverse genres There is a diverse and and mediums of creative student evolving array of publications work. available to UBC students and As much as we prize our it will be exciting to see the academic submissions, the large kinds of innovative and plural majority of our publication is approaches that will emerge — if in fact creative: poetry, fiction, not already. creative nonfiction, stage/screenplay, photography, visual art, film Sincerely, and music. We received over 150 subLaura Ritland missions to each of our past two Editor-in-Chief of The Garden issues and had the privilege of Statuary

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 |

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SOCIAL MEDIA >>

UBC investigates athlete involvement in lewd Twitter account Purportedly run by members of the men’s hockey team, ‘Dime Watch’ solicited nonconsensual photos of women on campus A website and Twitter feed devoted to non-consenual photos of and lewd comments about women on UBC campus has resulted in a backlash that may have consequences for some UBC varsity athletes. UBC is looking into whether they will discipline a number of student-athletes for their alleged involvement in the “UBC Dime Watch” website and Twitter feed. The UBC Athletics department became aware of the site and account late Tuesday night, when UBC Insiders editor Neal Yonson tweeted an image showing that the domain name thedimewatch. com was registered to varsity hockey player Ben Schmidt. The website appeared to be linked to the Twitter account @UBCDimeWatch, which was started in early 2012. The account encouraged people to post pictures of women without their consent. A “dime” is a slang word that references the practice of rating a woman’s level of attractiveness on a scale of 1-10. Schmidt claims he made the site for a friend. “I registered the domain and created the basic website layout for a friend. Didn’t expect publicity for it,” Schmidt said in a tweet.

I definitely got a very, very negative response from members of the UBC varsity hockey team,... very gendered insults. Ekateryna Baranovskaya AMS councillor

“There was some concern expressed to us.... [People] complained about the sexist nature of that language, and had concerns that … some of the posts, they felt, were getting pretty close to harassment,” said UBC Director of Public Affairs Lucie McNeill. “Or some of the posts were also a little bit scary in terms of inviting harassment. So the whole tenor of the conversation took a turn that UBC Athletics certainly felt was not something that would be considered conduct becoming of a student-athlete.” When the details of Schmidt’s link to thedimewatch.com were made public, UBC student Ekateryna Baranovskaya retweeted them and condemned Schmidt’s involvement with the site. The @ UBCDimeWatch Twitter handle and other UBC varsity athletes, tweeting under their own names and retweeting one another, mocked Baranovskaya and called her derogatory names. “I definitely got a very, very negative response from members of the UBC varsity hockey team,” said Baranovskaya. “It definitely

highlighted the things I did not like about the @ubcdimewatch Twitter account, which were very gendered insults. “I noticed that there were quite a few more targeted at me rather than Neal [Yonson, who originally reported Schmidt’s involvement]. I would say most likely it was for that reason.”

If you wouldn’t want your grandma to read it, DON’T post/tweet it. From the University of California’s social media policy for athletes

A number of athletes who were deemed to have some connection with the incident were called into an emergency meeting with UBC Athletics at noon on Wednesday. They were encouraged to make sure that the website and the @ UBCDimeWatch Twitter account were deleted, said McNeill. So far, UBC has not confirmed the identity of who was responsible for the Twitter feed, although they believe it may have originated within the men’s varsity hockey team. McNeill said it is not UBC’s place to uncover the identity of the people behind the anonymous account. UBC Athletics is still investigating the incident and has not yet determined if any discipline will happen. “We will be looking into this, and UBC Athletics will decide whether or not action is needed,” said McNeill. “Depending on the results,... there may be consequences.” UBC has a code of conduct all athletes are required to sign that prohibits harassment or any actions that are “insulting, intimidating, hurtful, malicious, degrading or otherwise offensive.” “They are held to a higher standard of behaviour; they have to have conduct becoming of a student-athlete, because they represent the university,” said McNeill. The code doesn’t set out any specific punishments for when its rules are broken. Disciplinary action is at the discretion of the UBC Athletics department. “People who were involved in that Twitter conversation, whose own Twitter handles were [retweeted] on that Twitter feed, they themselves deny that it was anything more than casual involvement — because they were drawn into it, because of the mention of the men’s hockey team,” said McNeill. “So this has to be looked into a little more seriously ... before we can start determining if indeed there is something that needs to be done, or actions to be taken [against] individual student-athletes.” “I think there should be a relatively serious response,” said

Baranovskaya. “If this is something that many members of the varsity hockey team are in support of, then this is something more systematic than they would like.” She said that she hopes UBC will create some form of education for student-athletes to try to prevent similar incidents in the future. UBC does not currently have a social media policy for student-athletes, but they are developing one in response to this incident. “To be fair, those students [tweeting] did not have guidelines in front of them,” said McNeill. She mentioned that orientation sessions for athletes at the beginning of the year did contain a brief presentation about social media. “Clearly the people who participated in those conversations on social media think that it’s all fun and games, and maybe they don’t think of the ramifications of what it is they say,” said McNeill. “This is a challenge that’s facing not only UBC, but all schools that have intercollegiate sport right now.” Other universities with more prominent varsity athletics programs take varied approaches to policing their athletes on social media.

To be fair, those students [tweeting] did not have guidelines in front of them. Lucie McNeill UBC Public Affairs

According to Carter Henderson, an assistant athletic director at the University of Washington, student athletes at that school sign a general code of conduct, but no policy specific to social media. That’s handled on a program-by-program basis, meaning it is under the purview of head coaches. To his knowledge, no incidents had occurred under this policy. Within the University of California system, student-athletes sign a social media policy that gives general advice and begins with, “If you wouldn’t want your grandma to read it, DON’T post/ tweet it.” At UBC, McNeill said it was a challenge for staff to keep tabs on students’ social media use. “It goes to show that there is a bit of a generational divide between faculty, staff leadership, who tend to be over 35, and students, who are often younger than 25,” she said. These incidents come at a time when UBC Athletics is still in its first year of participating in “Be More than a Bystander,” a campaign aimed at raising awareness about domestic violence through the endorsement of prominent athletes. The program is also promoted by the B.C. Lions CFL team. U —With files from Jonny Wakefield

PUZZLE PROVIDED BY BESTCROSSWORD.COM. USED WITH PERMISSION.

ACROSS

DOWN

1— “Give that ____ cigar!” 5— Fragment 10— Frolic 14— Crude cartel 15— Tire (out) 16— Greek goddess of strife 17— DEA agent 18— Stallone role 19— Course 20— Legging 22— Oakland’s county 24— Cabinet department 26— Stay out of sight 27— Like much spam 30— ___ Kick Out of You 32— “Surprise Symphony” composer 33— Are you ___ out? 34— Carry 38— Manipulate 39— Asses 42— Sounds of hesitation 43— Corned beef concoction 45— Warner ___ 46— Gold standard 48— Basketry material 50— Outback resident 51— Small-gauge wire 54— Negates 56— Mountain of the Gods 58— Pleasing 62— Russian airline, _____flot 63— Surrounded by 65— Russian range 66— Greek portico 67— V-shaped fortification 68— Italian bread? 69— Liquid container 70— Affirmatives 71— Gratuity

1— ___ Blanc 2— On ___ with 3— Fiddling emperor 4— Charged with a crime 5— Move apart 6— Soul mate? 7— PIN requester 8— Country singer McEntire 9— Whimsical humour 10— Beef or lamb 11— Bay window 12— Botch 13— Fiddlesticks! 21— Rise to one’s feet 23— Small island 25— Primitive form of wheat 27— No way 28— American space agency 29— Some whiskeys 31— Departs 33— As to 35— Belonging to us 36— Asian cuisine 37— Ferrara family 40— Death notice 41— Move stealthily 44— Evergreen oak 47— Attack 49— Equinox mo. 50— Straightens 51— Seashore 52— Prince Valiant’s wife 53— “Don Juan” poet 55— Radii neighbors 57— Hook’s helper 59— Gusto 60— Songbird 61— Gen. Robert ___ 64—Takes too much

SUDOKU

Laura Rodgers News Editor

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